An experiment in using the laser cutter for photo etching. First, convert the photo to gray-scale / desaturate and crop.
Original Photo & Grayscale Conversion
Then – print to the laser cutter, using the settings for mat board.
Laser Cut Photo Etch – Final Effect (Printed on Black Mat Board)
It seems I do this every few years or so. The star for the Christmas tree stops lighting up and try as I might, I can’t find the loose bulb. My quick fix for a this is to:
1.) Find a new strand of lights to use and plug them in to make sure they work. Any strand of Christmas lights will do, but it will be easiest if you use lights similar to the previous star lights.
2.) Take the star apart and take the lights out. (they are usually made of two halves of plastic that pop open or they are completely open to begin with)
3.) Wind them through the holder (that held the previous set of non-working lights) and secure with electrical tape.
4.) Keep winding the lights and taping them at the heaviest point all the way around the star. Try to emulate the original design, the lights will fit better.
5.) Fit the re-wired star back into its casing (if it has one). The one I am working on has tabs that have to fit together in order to close it. You may have to rearrange the wires in order to get the case closed. Don’t force it or you will break the plastic.
6.) All done. Christmas crisis averted.
Note:Â As no actual wiring was occurring – just reconfiguring the shape of the light strand, I left the lights on while I was working.
Bill and Anna France Celebrate Skeleton Marti Gras Style Halloween 2009 at the GCB.
ANNA’S COSTUME:
Burlesque Hat - bought on ebay, augmented with elastic under the chin.
Paper Mache Skull Mask – bought on ebay, added elastic behind the head and face padding on the inside to keep it secure and steady.
Tails Jacket – Bought on ebay, sewed white ribbon on the lapels and around the tails to set off the edge of the jacket.
Skeleton Dress – used old tunic shirt I had lying around. Bought a large piece of skeleton fabric from a vendor on etsy.com – cut it out and sewed it to the shirt.
Bone Gloves – bought on ebay
Bone Tights – bought two pairs and cut them apart and sewed them back together so that the bone pattern would show on both sides.
BILL’S COSTUME:
Top Hat – ebay – added a white ribbon and white feathers.
Paper Mache Skull Mask – bought on ebay, added elastic behind the head and face padding on the inside to keep it secure.
Fingerless Skeleton Gloves – purchased on ebay.
Suit Jacket - Savers – added white piping to lapels with ribbon.
Pants - normal wardrobe.
Skeleton Shirt – used new t-shirt. Bought a large piece of skeleton fabric from a vendor on etsy.com – cut it out and sewed it to the shirt.
Pumpkin in the Dark
Pumpkin in the Light
I needed a dress for Nick Mazonowicz and Elizabeth Celli’s wedding, so I decided to challenge myself and try a fabric that I had not worked with before – Dupioni Silk. I had the worst time finding a good pattern this year, but finally decided on the pattern McCall’s “Evening Elegance” 3436.
McCall's "Evening Elegance" 343
McCall's "Evening Elegance" 3436 Pattern Layout - On "Frosted Pine" Silk
I looked at various silks in fabric stores (I was very disappointed with both the high price and the poor quality). I looked online and found a great seller on Ebay. I highly recommend Silk Baron for all your Dupioni Silk needs. They provide swatches (for a small fee & and it is definitely worth it to check the color and tone first) and I ordered a pile of them before I placed an order for several yards of “Frosted Pine” (shown in the photos below).
Overcasting silk to keep it from unraveling
1. Overcast all cut edges of the Dupioni. This silk unravels very easily, but if you overcast all the cut edges before you begin to sew the seams together, it is much easier to work with.
2.) For time sensitive projects – Order more fabric (and lining) that you actually need. I began with McCall’s “Evening Elegance” 3436, then after cutting it out (luckily just the skirt portion) I didn’t like the way the skirt was draping. I decided that I wanted to use another pattern.
3. Be flexible and willing to adapt the pattern.
As I stated in #2, I changed my mind mid-project. The 2 piece design was not working the way I wanted it to, so I went in another direction. I used on of my favorite patterns instead – New Look 6862 – a simple empire style dress. Since I did not cut the bodice for the McCall’s pattern, I had just enough material left for the New Look dress and the side inset modifications to make the dress more sweeping and formal (see pictures below.
New Look 6862
However, I now did not have enough material to make a wrap. The wedding was on September 26 and I thought that a sleeveless dress would be too cold by itself. I still had the skirt that I made from the McCall’s pattern, and using a wrap pattern from McCall’s 3880 (a different McCall’s Pattern), I adapted the skirt fabric into a wrap. This took some adjusting, but worked out pretty well, the curves of the skirt hem made for a unique sleeve style.
McCalls "Evening Elegance" 3880
Here are some detail views of the side insert I mentioned above when discussion pattern modifications. The New Look pattern has a very straight form-fitting skirt, I modified that by not sewing the side seams from the low hip to the hem. I turned the dress to the side and I created a triangle pattern out of paper that just overstretched the gap. (None of these steps are exact, I just messed around with it until the dress looked good and hung correctly.)
I then cut the leftover fabric in the basic triangle shape and then cut that shape in half. I wanted to give the dress detail with the decorative side seams, so I re-sewed the triangle fabric (that I just cut in half) back together and pressed it out, creating the two small triangles in the insert. Then I adjusted the insert into place and basted the seams by hand. I then machine stitched the seams in place.
You may notice that the bottom of the insert is inverted. This is to keep the sides of the dress from hanging lower than the front or back and dragging on the floor.
Side Insert
Side Insert - Close Up
To go with the Dupioni Silk dress and wrap I made, I augmented an evening bag. I was very lucky to find a old black second-hand evening bag with very minor staining on the outside and a strong clasp and clean inside.
Thrift Store Bag
I took a piece of the silk and tucked the edges under. Then I slip stitched it around the edges. No other work was needed.
The fabric shown is Frosted Pine 54″ Dupioni – available from SilkBaron.com. I highly recommend their service and their silks.
Slip stiching holding the silk to the side of the bag
Inside View
Completed Matching Bag